1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to cylinder head gaskets and more particularly to a cylinder head gasket having reinforcement of a coolant opening adjacent to a combustion opening.
2. Related Art
A coolant passage in an engine block is typically located very close to one of the cylinder bores where combustion occurs. The relatively narrow portion of gasket material between a combustion opening and a closely spaced coolant opening in a gasket is prone to failure and is difficult to properly seal.
A gasket constructed according to the invention comprises a generally flat gasket body having a combustion opening and a coolant opening adjacent to but closely spaced from the combustion opening to define a narrow region of the gasket body between the openings. The gasket is characterized by including armoring comprising a metallic armor layer having a generally C-shaped section folded over an edge of said coolant opening adjacent to the combustion opening.
The gasket construction according to the invention has the advantage of providing a simple, but effective, solution for reinforcing the troublesome narrow region between the combustion opening and a closely adjacent coolant opening. The generally C-shaped armoring provides the needed reinforcement to provide a high integrity seal under high pressure, high temperature conditions. The armoring according to the invention avoids complicated bridges or other structure sometimes employed between adjacent combustion openings which involves removal of the narrow region in lieu of the bridge.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the armoring for the coolant opening can be formed as an extension of armoring used for the associated combustion opening, in a simple, cost-effective manner.